Battered By EMI Lawsuit, MP3tunes Files For Bankruptcy Protection
(UPDATED) Online music locker MP3tunes.com has filed for bankruptcy protection. Led by MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, MP3tunes has been the target of an ongoing aggressive lawsuit by EMI. In court documents, the company listed $7,754 in assets and $2.108,966 million in liabilities.
EMI Records sued MP3tunes alleging massive infringement. Four years later a judge ruled that "MP3tunes did not promote infringement". But EMI has repeatedly asked that ruling be re-examined.
"EMI spent an estimated $10 million dollars with multiple law firms to arm their attack against MP3tunes in an attempt to thwart unlicensed personal lockers," according to Robertson. "They know it's difficult if not impossible for startups to fight long costly legal battles… This happened with the music search engine Seeqpod, Muxtape, Favtape and many others that have quietly faded away."
UPDATE: EMI says bankruptcy won't protect MP3tunes from copyright suit and they will prooceed with the case, according to CNet. Robertson also faces personal liability in the lawsuit.
Hey Bruce
Great posting – it will be very interesting to see where this goes… another one bites-the-dust?
Look at the revenue in the pdf filing. EMI had nothing to do with the failure of MP3tunes. It was just like other Robertson ventures…badly executed.
Based on the filing, Robertson is sticking it to everyone from his lawyers ($1.4 million), to several employees ($10,775), to even the coffee vendor ($96). So, let me get this straight…Robertson is saying he doesn’t have $96 to pay a coffee vendor because of EMI? What a chump. I guess he’s broke and has blown all the money he got from the MP3.com fiasco. (MP3.com went public at $28 per share, and was dumped in a fire sale for $5 per share, sticking it to the many IPO investors while Robertson made off with millions.)
I also noticed in the MP3tunes bankruptcy filing, that the only secured creditor he lists was HIMSELF, through his SKL Trust. As usual, he makes sure that he ends up first in line while everyone else gets completely stiffed.
Even worse, innocent customers are STILL getting ripped off, as it appears he’s more than happy to keep selling subscriptions to his defunct company. Fortunately the media is now alerting would-be customers about this bankruptcy, since apparently Robertson isn’t. I can find no mention of the bankruptcy anywhere on the MP3tunes site, but I can find where they are still accepting $139.95 for annual subscriptions.
As I say, what a chump. Learn about the real Michael Robertson at http://freespire.com
Robertson may be hoping to get out of his EMI litigation with this move, but I’m glad EMI is suing him personally and will continue after him. Being the former CFO of one one his other failed companies, Linspire, I’ve seen first hand how ruthless he is and the damage he’s done to so many employees, customers, investors and innocent people (see freespire.com). I also predicted Robertson would blame the EMI lawsuit for the eventual demise of MP3tunes, as he always points to others for his failures to save face. As you’ll see from the filing, MP3Tunes has less than $25k of revenues so far this year. In fact, MP3tunes revenues hardly ever moved the needle. MP3tunes was NOT run out of business by paying legal fees, it was due to a LACK OF REVENUES, and he’s trying to get save face by blaming it on EMI. In other words, it was just another poorly executed business idea from Robertson.
Linspire was another of his failures, approximately 100 shareholder never got a penny when it went down or even an letter from Robertson what happened to their investment, yet on the MP3Tunes website, he spins it as a success by saying it was sold to Xandros. Robertson is a master with the slight of hands when trying save face on his failures. Remember, when dealing with Robertson, “if you lie down with dogs, you get wake up with flees.”